What a relief it is ...

…when the border you stitch on a sampler meets at the end!! I’m sure you know that feeling, and perhaps you also know the frustration when the border doesn’t meet. Yikes!

The other day I finished stitching the vine border on the Deborah Walker sampler! What a relief it was when the vine met perfectly!! The border with some of its little irregularities was a bit challenging at times--if I wasn’t very careful, I easily made a mistake which led to “reverse stitching”. I haven’t stitched all of the strawberries on the vine--I may save them until last. It might be nice to do them at one of my guild stitch-ins.

I still have a fair amount of over-one stitching to do. The chart has enlargements of these areas, but the enlargements really aren’t much bigger than what is on the main chart. Plus, I’ve discovered that the charting on the enlargements doesn’t match what is on the main chart. I’ve decided to follow the main chart.

Several people have asked me about this chart. It was produced by Just CrossStitch and is now out of print.

Deborah’s sister, Rebecca, too stitched a sampler which was reproduced by The Essamplaire. Click here to see it. Another sister, Mary, also stitched a sampler. I don’t know if Mary’s sampler has been reproduced. All three of the original samplers are in the collection of the Chester County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society.

If you look at Deborah’s and Rebecca’s samplers, you can’t help but notice the similarities. You’d probably also noticed the many Quaker motifs. Although neither girl tells us when she stitched her sampler, they both tell us they are the daughters of Isaac and Deborah (Dickinson) Walker. Deborah’s sampler also gives us her grandparents’ initials. Isn’t it wonderful having that information?

With a short internet search, I was able to find a little more about the Walker family. Isaac was born in 1779. He married Deborah Dickinson on September 14, 1803. Both were Quaker. They lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and had ten children. Isaac built a school on his property, and for part of the year he taught not only his children but also others.

Their daughter, Deborah Walker, the maker of the sampler I’m stitching, was born in 1820. She married Henry Pownall, and together they had five children. Deborah died in 1890. She and Henry are buried at the Sadsbury Friends Meeting Cemetery as are Deborah's parents.

I’ll probably put Deborah aside for a bit to work on a new sampler I’ve designed. I’m using the Gentle Art’s Simply Wool threads for the first time, and I really like the way they look. Isn’t it wonderful to have so many different threads readily available?